What Can I Do?

1. What Can I Do?

2. A watershed is all the land that drains into a given body of water. Parts of six states plus the District of Columbia form the Chesapeake watershed. chesapeake.usgs.gov www.cbf.org What Can I Do? Perhaps the single most important thing we can do is to realize that we all live in a watershed.

3. chesapeake.usgs.gov What Can I Do? Perhaps the single most important thing we can do is to realize that we all live in a watershed. Satellite image of the entire 64,000-square-mile watershed of the Chesapeake Bay.

4. www.dcr.state.va.us www.cbf.org What Can I Do? Perhaps the single most important thing we can do is to realize that we all live in a watershed. The activities of 15+ million people in the Chesapeake Bay watershed contribute to the runoff of nutrients, sediments, and toxins.

5. Bill Dennison What Can I Do? Perhaps the single most important thing we can do is to realize that we all live in a watershed. Do you use water in any of the following ways? The water we use comes from the Chesapeake watershed, so obviously each of us has an interest in keeping this watershed healthy.

6. www.ctcnet.net/jra/plant.htm www.ctcnet.net/jra/plant.htm What Can I Do? It is important to understand the difference between wastewater (sewage) and stormwater. Wastewater is the water and all the other stuff that goes down the drains inside your home. Sewage Treatment Plant Wastewater is treated, and the quality of the water is improved before it is returned to the system.

7. What Can I Do? It is important to understand the difference between wastewater (sewage) and stormwater. Stormwater is water that falls on your roof or driveway or on lawns and roads. Most stormwater is not treated.

8. Bill Dennison What Can I Do? It is important to understand the difference between wastewater (sewage) and stormwater. Wastewater and stormwater systems are totally different. Wastewater is treated. Some of its impurities are removed. Most stormwater is not treated.

9. Tim Carruthers Health of the Chesapeake Bay Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s ‘State of the Bay’ indicators show a large decline in health over the last century.

10. Tim Carruthers Health of the Chesapeake Bay But in recent years, governments, businesses, and citizens have begun working together to become better stewards of the Chesapeake watershed. The Bay and its rivers are doing better, but we have a long way to go.

11. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/tribstrat/nps_pollution.html Helpful Things You Can Do Soap, dirt and oil washed from your car can flow into nearby storm drains and end up in the Bay. Wash your car on grass or gravel so the ground can filter the water naturally. Or take it to a car wash (which sends used water to the sewer system for treatment).

12. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/tribstrat/nps_pollution.html Helpful Things You Can Do Nutrients used to bring the earth to life can overfeed a waterway to death. Use fertilizers sparingly. Consider using organic fertilizers; they release nutrients more slowly than chemical fertilizers.

13. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/tribstrat/nps_pollution.html Helpful Things You Can Do Oil does not dissolve in water. One pint of oil can make a slick larger than a football field. Dispose of used engine oil at recycling stations and clean up spills promptly.

14. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/tribstrat/nps_pollution.html Helpful Things You Can Do Pet waste is full of bacteria. If it is washed into a storm drain and ends up in the Bay, the bacteria end up in shellfish, for example. People who eat those shellfish can get very sick. Clean water options: • Scoop it up and flush it down the toilet. • Seal the waste in a plastic bag and throw it in the garbage. • Bury it in your yard where it can decompose slowly.

15. Tim carruthers Helpful Things You Can Do You can probably think of many other examples. But let us now consider a relatively new activity, in which we can participate, to help the Chesapeake Bay: replanting SAV to replace some of the SAV which has been lost.

16. SAV Restoration • Despite recent water quality improvements, we still are only at a fraction of historic levels of SAV acreage in the Chesapeake. • As many as 80,000 redhead ducks once stopped to feed on redhead grass; now, only a few thousand redheads visit the Bay.

17. SAV Restoration But we can jump-start the recovery of grasses in areas where they once flourished by …

18. SAV Restoration But we can jump-start the recovery of grasses in areas where they once flourished by … • growing bay grasses in our classroom or home

19. www.dnr.state.md.us SAV Restoration But we can jump-start the recovery of grasses in areas where they once flourished by … • growing bay grasses in our classroom or home

20. www.dnr.state.md.us SAV Restoration But we can jump-start the recovery of grasses in areas where they once flourished by … • growing bay grasses in our classroom or home • and transplanting them to select areas in the Bay.

21. Tim carruthers SAV Restoration But we can jump-start the recovery of grasses in areas where they once flourished by … • growing bay grasses in our classroom or home • and transplanting them to select areas in the Bay.

22. Kris Schulte SAV Restoration But we can jump-start the recovery of grasses in areas where they once flourished by … • growing bay grasses in our classroom or home • and transplanting them to select areas in the Bay. • Plantings will be monitored for success.

23. www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/sav/test_tank.html SAV Restoration Classroom wild celery seedlings 2 weeks 4 weeks 5 weeks (Recall that wild celery (vallisneriaamericana) is an upper-bay, oligohaline species.) 11 weeks

24. Kris Schulte SAV Restoration We will propagate redhead grass (potamogeton perfoliatus) using cuttings from wild plants. Taking cuttings from wild plants has little impact on existing SAV beds. (Recall that redhead grass is a mid-bay, mesohaline species.)

25. Mesohaline SAV Restoration It would not make sense to plant our propagated perfoliatus if it couldn’t live where we planted it. But scientists have identified the water quality conditions and requirements necessary for the survival of different SAV species.

26. Mesohaline SAV Restoration We will learn how to pick a suitable site for planting our perfoliatus.

27. Tim Carruthers Mesohaline SAV Restoration After growing our redhead grass, we will load it up …

28. Tim Carruthers Mesohaline SAV Restoration … and take it to the site we have selected.

29. Tim Carruthers Mesohaline SAV Restoration … and take it to the site we have selected.

30. Tim Carruthers John Melton Tim Carruthers Mesohaline SAV Restoration The site will be marked so that it can be protected and monitored for success.

31. Tim Carruthers Mesohaline SAV Restoration

32. Tim Carruthers Mesohaline SAV Restoration We have discussed: • What is SAV? • Why should I care? • What’s the problem? • What can I do? Coming up: • SAV identification guide • Step-by-step procedures for growing and planting SAV • Classroom labs and Internet search activities • Interactive tutorial and …

33. Tim Carruthers Mesohaline SAV Restoration Get ready to be in a photo library!